


The Garden of Shadow and Light

by Talimee



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga), Yasha (Manga)
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Canon Compliant, Crossover, Dialogue Heavy, Friendship, Introspection, Light Angst, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Yasha, Post-Side Story: Garden of Light, Slice of Life, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 11:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16474703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talimee/pseuds/Talimee
Summary: Some things about them have changed, some things will ever stay the same.When Eiji meets Sing again after a long time, he finds out if the other is still the person he knew back in New York, or if Sing has irrevocably changed. Because the Chinese mafia boss has ulterior motives in meeting with Eiji again.





	The Garden of Shadow and Light

**The Garden of Shadow and Light**

 

The house was an understatement, Eiji could see at first glance. Western in design; all right angles and floor-length windows and fair-faced concrete. It also spouted a front-yard, a drive-way and, if he heard right, an artificial pond with a miniature waterfall somewhere around the back. In Tokyo this house was a luxury, even though it practically _screamed_ upper middle-class.

Eiji felt a wry grin on his lips as he paid his cab-driver and shoved his hands into his pockets. He sure as hell wasn't going to protest if Sing wanted to pretend to be any other than the Lee-Syndicate boss, if it meant that Eiji could wear his favorite jeans-and-plaid-shirt-combination to a party and get away with it. He glanced back down the road he had come, back down where downtown Tokyo had once glittered and sparkled before the epidemic had brought death and ruin to the city. His eyes searched for the columns of smoke he had seen in photographs, originating in the pyres for the countless dead, before he shook himself out of that image and walked up to the house.

He could hear conversation and music even before the door was opened and Akira pulled him into a hug. He smiled when they exchanged pleasantries and noticed how she practically radiated contentment. Nothing in the self-assured woman leading him into the living room betrayed a smidgen of the insecure girl he had known back in New York six years ago and who had tethered on the verge of self-loathing because she wasn't the boy her father had wished for. For the first time tonight he was happy that he had accepted Sing's invitation.

“Sing's out through the back, I believe” she said after she had given him the introductory round. She pushed him towards an open door. “I know he's dying to see you.”

Eiji stepped out onto the terrace and laughed when he caught sight of Sing doubling down over a rickety barbecue grill. The Chinese giant stopped poking at the sausages and righted himself, face already splitting in a wide grin when he recognized Eiji's voice.

“I hope this is not the only food around here”, Eiji said lightheartedly, before Sing swept him into a bear-hug.

“Pretty pathetic, eh?” Sing released him and they both turned to the sad sight sizzling before them. “I can't get the fire going properly and Akira put her foot down about helping it along a bit.” He motioned to a canister nearby.

“There's still fried rice, I guess”, Eiji answered in mock-suffering before taking a look around the garden. He spotted the decorative pond he had heard from the drive-way at one end of the lawn, prettily situated beneath a willow and half obscured by bamboo. Just like Sing faking a middle-class life for tonight, the half-hidden pond was clearly the center-piece of the grounds. Eiji's eyes found other things that were hidden away as well and they dampened his spirits, even though he had been expecting them: men in dark suits, keeping to the edge of his vision. Bodyguards.

He wondered how many of the people inside were really guests.

He wondered if Sing was armed.

A hand holding a can of beer entered his vision and startled him from his thoughts. He accepted it and toasted Sing, sipping thoughtfully as his gaze kept returning to the dark figures prowling the grounds.

“How is Ibe?” Sing asked. “Is he doing well?”

“Better”, Eiji emphasized, “but still on the mend. He was glad to see me, practically rejoicing that the _Newsweek_ -job I took in his stead made me come back to Japan.”

“You wouldn't have otherwise?”

Eiji shook his head. “There's nothing for me here. He didn't like hearing that, of course”, Eiji added with a wistful smile. “And he was frantic, actually, that you took his niece to Tokyo so close after the quarantine was lifted.”

Sing winced. “It was _her_ decision, not mine. Akira's got friends here and she wanted to make sure they were OK before we leave for the States again.”

“So the people inside …”

“Are actually her friends, yes”, Sing grinned but it lacked humor. “Who I barely know, so I'm doubly glad that you have decided to visit Japan, because now you're my play-date for this party!”, he added, switching easily back to his joyful enthusiasm.

“What have you planned?”, Eiji asked.

“Food first”, Sing said, taking this as cue to poke at the mangy barbecue again, “then a round of basketball, beer, some pool, more beer and a busload of 80's movies. Then bar hopping – maybe two or three – and karaoke, if you insist.”

Eiji snorted beer. “Why on earth would I insist on karaoke?”, he wheezed, wiping his nose with a napkin Sing handed him.

“Why, to make up for all the losing you'll do in pool and basketball!”, Sing declared loudly. “You definitely have the cuter voice of us two.”

Eiji gaped at him for a second. “You underhanded jerk!”, he mock-protested. “First insulting my height and then calling me cute? I can't believe it.” He swilled his can around and gulped down the rest of his beer, all the while trying to level a menacing stare at Sing.

It didn't work, of course, if Sing's snorting laugh was any indication.

“These look done to you?”, the giant asked in complete disregard for Eiji's indignation, poking at the sausages one last time before forking them onto a plate. “No one will notice anyway under all that mustard”, he mumbled. “You want some?” He gestured to the nearby buffet with this tongs and carried the plate over when Eiji shook his head.

He watched for a while, as Sing was roped into handing out plates and food around his guests, playing host and holding small-talk. Now that Eiji had a moment to look at the other guests he spotted signs of fatigue in their faces; dark rings under eyes, sallow skin, superficial smiles that penetrated not even the first layer of countenance. Akira's friends were the lucky survivors of the epidemic but the harrowing last months had taken a toll on them all. With a pang Eiji realized that this party was most likely as much a food-charity as a get-together and he felt a flash of guilt about the secluded and safe live he lived in New York.

 _It's not your fault, Eiji,_ he said to himself. _Remember, that you stopped thinking like that a long time ago_.

Deciding that he needed another beer, he grabbed a can from a bucket of ice and went for a stroll in the garden, keeping to the edge of the lawn and the light spilling out from the house. Trained behavior he had thought lost years ago, made him notice the darker shadows of the men patrolling the perimeters but they ignored him just as much as he was ignoring them. Eiji knew that he wasn't a threat to anyone and that in turn he was a safe as he could be in Sing Soo-Ling's house.

Having crossed the lawn and looked at the rose beds twice, he decided to explore a bit further and let his feet lead him to the little pond which obnoxious trickling he had heard all evening. He stood there, watching as bubbles danced and swirled between water-lilies and thought about his job tomorrow. His itinerary was tight and would take him through most of Tokyo's most known places. A tourist tour with a maximum recognition factor, leaving him barely enough time to snap a few pictures before being herded to the next sight.

Eiji didn't like the idea of a _Before_ and _After_ this evoked, and the omission of all that came between and would come in the future. No, he would trust his feelings again to lead him to the right places to apply his craft, he decided. They had lead him to New York's dark and light places and had shown him both the haunting and the heart-warming side of humanity … He might not get the photographs _Newsweek_ wanted for their report if he did that, but he would get the pictures they'd _need_. He owed this much to the city and her people.

“If you don't mind, I would like to have my privacy again.”

“Yikes!”, he squeaked and nearly dropped his beer. He scrambled wildly, saving it from falling into the pond but the chuckle he heard from his right told him that he had not saved his dignity. “I'm so sorry!”, he said, breathless and squeaky-voiced. “I didn't see you there.”

“That much is obvious”, the man answered. His voice sounded young, and when Eiji caught a glimpse of him, sitting on the ground behind the bamboo at the upper right end of the pond, he found that the man could barely be older than twenty. His night vision made out a pretty face with a strong jaw and short blond hair. The cut of the suit suggested a muscular build, but not bulky, and the eyes of the man … Eiji felt wary when he looked into the stranger's eyes. They were odd, partly because of their shape, but mainly because their gaze was too guarded and scrutinizing for someone this young. The stranger felt old, and dangerous.

“You're the photographer from New York”, the other man said when nothing more was forthcoming. “The one doing the _Newsweek_ -report.” It was a statement, not a question.

“How do you -”, Eiji started but stopped himself. “We're talking in English”, he realized. Had they spoken in the language of his adopted home the whole time? What language had the other hailed him in when he made his presence known earlier? He couldn't tell.

“That, and your NYC-accent”, the other confirmed. “And now, if you please …” The air around them changed subtly, as if an audience with a king had come to an end and Eiji had overstayed his welcome. Without so much as a nod the photographer turned around and walked back to the house, feeling too relieved to get away from the stifling darkness around the pond to feel offended by the abrupt dismissal.

“There you are!”, Sing hollered in greeting when Eiji came up to him at the buffet. “I wondered where you had run off to.” He was as jovial and friendly as before, maybe even more so. There was a blush across his cheeks and he seemed tipsy.

“Who is that man by the pond?”, Eiji asked without preamble. Now, that his mind had some time to replay the weird encounter, he was getting suspicious. There had been a certain air around him … “Is he the real reason you wanted me here?”

It took less than a second for Sing to become serious. “Never think that!”, he said in a low, intense voice. “You are one of my best friends and that is the only reason I need to want to see you.”

Eiji's relief at hearing this was nearly palpable. Even if they moved in very different circles now, Eiji had never considered Sing anything less than a close friend. But he had seen up close how easily people could break in the right circumstances and how people like him could soon become an asset, an assurance or a tool in the world of organized crime that Sing wore like a second skin.

“There is a 'but' hanging in the air”, Eiji said matter-of-factly. Their time together in his Greenwich Village flat was long past, maybe, but he could still read his friend's body language like a large print book.

“I had hoped that you'd meet my other personal guest”, the Chinese admitted and shrugged. “And since you _did_ walk in on him on your own I feel kind of vindicated.”

“It's a small garden”, Eiji said coolly. “It's hard to miss anyone.”

Sing didn't say anything to this and they fell silent. It was heavy, though, unlike the easy silences they usually shared.

“His name's Amamiya Rin”, Sing said at last and led Eiji a few yards away from the house. “The new head of the Amamiya family after his father and twin-brother died in … really bad circumstances. Good looking, stinking rich, very intelligent. More mortal enemies than cookies at a girl scout outing. You know the deal”, Sing shrugged and tried to mask his obvious discomfort at Eiji's silence with a grin.

Eiji did not feel like grinning. Or even talking.

He glared up at his friend and stalked away to the buffet, exchanging his empty beer can for a bottle of water and grabbing one for Sing as well. The discomfort mixed with relief in the Chinese's face as Eiji thrust the bottle into his hand was his saving grace. It told loud and clear that Sing knew he had messed up.

“I _don't_ have a type”, Eiji pressed out.

A look of horror crossed Sing's face. “Oh god, no! Don't think –! I'm sorry if it sounded as if I was suggesting _that_ ”, Sing whispered urgently. “You _know_ , I would never think _that_!”

Eiji took a drag from his water, feeling the cold liquid plunge into his stomach and focused on this. He knew Sing, had known him for more than a third of his life, and he trusted him with his life. He inhaled deeply and let his breath flow from his lungs, forcing his irrational anger out.

“I know”, he said in a whisper. He reached out and touched Sing's arm. “It's OK.” Sing's relief was radiating in waves from him, reminding him so much of the awkward teenager he had once known that Eiji couldn't help but feel his affection for this big goof rekindle.

“So”, he said in a lighter mood. “Handsome, intelligent, troubled past. And in desperate need of a friend, right?”

Sing chuckled. “You bet.”

“Calling himself names, I guess.”

“Like you wouldn't believe it.” Sing sighed dramatically.

“It's always like that with them, isn't it?”, Eiji said quietly, thinking back. “They all think they're uniquely entitled to their misery. They never see that what they do and what they go through because of it makes them _more_ human, not less.”

“Amen to that”, Sing confirmed and they fell silent again, both thinking of late friends, Eiji suspected.

He _had_ felt something back at the pond, Eiji recalled. A screaming sadness radiated from the stranger: raw and fresh and violent. So similar to what Ash had felt like that it took his breath away and yet different. Ash had yearned for consolation. It had simmered under his cold and snide exterior, hidden away but plain to see for everyone with a heart. Amamiya Rin, on the other hand, was unreadable and confusing. His misery had a knife's edge to it that made Eiji afraid of what could happen if Rin let himself break.

He made his decision then.

Putting his bottle to the ground, he reached up and gathered Sing into a hug. His arms barely reached around his friend's broad shoulders but Sing made up for that by wrapping his arms around Eiji's waist and squeezing tightly.

“It's a no, right?” Sing asked into Eiji's ear.

“Yes, I'm sorry”, Eiji answered and gently pulled out of the hug. “I cannot help him get better. I don't think he would even let me try. And I can't step back into this world.” They both knew what kind of world Eiji meant. “I couldn't bear it.”

“It was worth a try.”

Eiji bent down and picked up his drink, imagining the prickle of unseen eyes at his back. “You are better suited for this than I am”, he said smiling. “You stood by Yau-Si for more than a decade, after all.”

“A prickly customer if there ever was one”, Sing murmured, affection coloring his voice.

“In the end, I think, he learned to cherish what he had.”

They finished their drinks then, standing on the lawn shoulder to shoulder. One man looking down at the ground, the other looking up at the stars, both lost in thought. They had moved on, their lives had drifted apart. Yet they felt the pull of being the last witnesses of a past that still burned bright in their memories but slipped further from their reach with every passing day.

“I'm glad to have met you”, one said finally.

“I feel the same”, the other said and walked away.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the wonderful person(s) uploading pictures and video's of Yoshida's "New York Sense" I finally could put the _Banana Fish_ and _Yasha_ timelines together. Sing Soo-Ling appearing in both mangas connected them, of course, but never gave a clear hint when the latter was taking place in comparison to the former.
> 
> Ever since Sing appeared in _Yasha_ I couldn't stop thinking about Eiji in this world. GoL-Eiji has punched a hole in my heart and I desperately wanted to see how he was faring in this changed world of global conspiracies and genetic engineering. _Yasha_ also provided a troubled and highly gifted Main Character, someone in need of a friend and unconditional love, but Eiji gently declined Sing's (and through him, my) offer. So poor Sei has to do with Toichi and, perhaps, Sing.
> 
> The BFxYasha-crossover verse is ripe with possibilities, I think. Just imagine an AU where Ash didn't die; where he and Sing and Arisue Sei combined their strenghts to fight international crime and reshape the world as we know it. They could become the best and the worst overlords humanity has ever known. <3


End file.
